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Fire companies seek support through volunteers, fund drives
By Rochelle Shenk
Lititz Record Express
Published: May 08, 2008 11:07 AM EST
Lititz -
Area fire departments look to the community for support both through
donations to annual fund drives as well as volunteers.
Four fire
departments provide service to various part of the Lititz and Warwick area:
Lititz Fire Department, Brickerville Fire Department, Brunnerville Fire
Department and Rothsville Volunteer Fire Department.
Fund drive
letters, which are sent to residents in the department's first due, or main
service area for Rothsville and Brunnerville, are generally mailed in the
fall while Lititz Fire Department mails theirs in the spring.
Lynn
Mearig, chief of the Brunnerville Fire Department, said that the department
does not have a suggested donation amount. The average donation is $40, and
42 percent of the households participate in the fund drive, which usually
raises $30,000. The monies raised in the fund drive cover operating
expenses including equipment maintenance.
What the fund drive
doesn't cover is capital expenditures such as the purchase of new
apparatus. The department is currently raising funds to replace its 1993
pumper; the cost of a new pumper is approximately $600,000.
"We have
a several pieces of fire equipment and our goal is to get on a 10-year
replacement rotation with each piece," Mearig said.
Funds for
capital expenses are raised through efforts such as the two dinners the
department holds annually: a drive-thru turkey and ham dinner in the spring
and a buffet and drive-thru turkey and ham dinner in the fall. "It's tough
for our firefighters to staff the fundraisers, too. We're always looking
for volunteers, either people to help with the dinners or to serve their
community as firefighters," he said.
Like Brunnerville, the
Brickerville Fire Department's fund drive letter is mailed in the spring.
This year's fund drive request was mailed in March.
"Last year we
received about a 47 percent return, and this year is close to that. That's
pretty much an average for us," said fire chief Sid Adams. He noted that
the fund drive letter does not have any suggested donation amount, and
donations average between $35 and $50.
"We just ask for a donation.
The committee feels that people should give what they can. Our township has
been very supportive of us over the years," he said.
Rothsville
Volunteer Fire Company's fund drive is mailed in the beginning of
September. It's timed that way since the Rothsville Volunteer Fire Company
Ambulance Corp. fund drive is in the spring. Sam Young, Rothsville Fire
Chief, noted that the ambulance fund drive letter was mailed in the
beginning of April. The fire company's fund drive provides funds for its
operating budget, which also includes funds for maintaining and purchasing
apparatus. "This is our largest source of income," he said. Additional
funds are raised through suppers, chicken barbecues, a chicken corn soup
sale and buffet breakfasts.
Young, Adams and Mearig all agree on the
need for volunteers to help with both fundraising and firefighting
efforts.
Ron Oettel, Lititz Fire chief said that the department's
fund drive letters are expected to be mailed mid-May.
"Normally
they're out by now, but this year we're using a new service for mailing and
it took us a bit longer," he said.
He noted that this year the
department is asking for a cost of living increase in the donation amount
from residents for the first time in nearly five years. The fire
department's first due area (Lititz Borough and a portion of Warwick
Township) has approximately 19,200 people. Last year each household was
asked to donate $50, and that's been increased to $60 or $18 per person if
one figures there are 3.3 people per household.
Oettel stressed that
support from area residents is critical for the department's funding.
"There's been tremendous growth in our first due service area in the last
decade. What that means for us is a greater demand for our services," he
said.
Another issue that Mearig noted was the fact that what is now
known as the Local Services Tax, was originally named the EMS (Emergency
and Municipal Services) Tax. "When it was the EMS Tax people thought it was
going to the emergency services providers so they didn't have to donate.
They were used to the acronym EMS as it applied to emergency services, but
in that case there was a misconception," he said.
There's also a
misconception about volunteerism in fire companies. Like most of the fire
companies throughout the county, Lititz Fire Company is not staffed by
career firefighters who are paid for their services, but rather by
volunteers. There are 60 firefighters in the company, 25 of which are
"active members." There are also four active fire police
members.
"There are two issues that have been plaguing fire services
for a number of years—funding and recruitment and retention of
volunteers," he said.
Funding does come mostly from residents and
the community itself.
"Many local folks don't realize that we're
still highly dependent on donations. We also have a number of people who
have move into our community from other areas where fire protection is paid
through their taxes. These folks often don't realize that we're an
all-volunteer company," Oettel said.
In fact if the fire company was
staffed by career firefighters, it would require a staff of 48
firefighters, two or three chief officers and one or two administrative
staff members. Using figures from the Federal Department of Labor's Web
site, the cost of salary and benefits for this staff would be approximately
$3.4 million per year including fixed costs for the building and
maintenance on its three pieces of apparatus, or approximately $590 per
household, almost a tenfold increase. "Today our current operating expenses
are $250,000," Oettel said.
The other issue facing the Lititz Fire
Company as well as other volunteer departments in the area and throughout
the country is recruitment and retention of volunteers.
"We
understand that everyone has busy lives and is trying to juggle work and
family responsibilities. However we're always looking for dedicated
volunteers. As a volunteer department, we have a direct community
connection—its neighbors helping neighbors," he said.
The
Lititz Fire Company treats recruitment as a business would.
"There
is a cost or effort to attracting a new volunteer just like there's a cost
to a business to attract new employees. However since we're all volunteers,
we don't have the same abilities to offer incentives as an employer. We
count on people being willing to serve their community," he
said.
There's also a cost involved in training new volunteers, and a
demand on the volunteer's time. "We strive to retain our trained
volunteers; that's really important," he said.
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